Tagged: water

Scientists have now proven that the water that was deposited on the moon came for asteroids, and not comets, as previously thought. Our moon was once thought to be completely devoid of water, as the Apollo missions failed to find any concrete evidence of water in lunar soil samples. Since then, spectrographic tests from India’s first expedition to the moon determined that lunar soil from within shadowy craters and polar regions contained molecules that could only be due to the presence of water. Now, a study published in Nature Communications, conducted by an international team of scientists, who analyzed data taken from...

Tonight on Dark Thirty Radio Extraterrestrial Response May Not Arrive For Another 1,500 Years A new study suggests that just because we haven’t heard from extraterrestrial life, doesn’t mean we won’t, it will just take a lot more time than previously hoped. Astronomy student Evan Solomonides from Cornell University, due to the sheer size of the Milky Way, it could be up to 1,500 years before we can reasonably expect to hear back from any extraterrestrials who’ve picked up our transmissions from Earth. Although 1,500 years seems like a long wait for a response that may never come, the researchers are quick...

A natural disaster of epic proportions has been in-progress at Lake Erie today. During the first three hours and at the time of this writing there was no sign of it stopping. A rare wind-driven “Seiche” is taking place. The wind is so fierce and sustained, it is blowing the entire body of lake water from west-to-east causing the natural sea level at the west end of Lake Erie to DROP 6 feet and the natural sea level at the east end to rise more than 7 feet! A seiche occurs when strong winds push the surface water. With a...

Article submitted by Alanna Fox Starks Lake Atitlan: Her Many Mysteries (Part 2) The Lady of the Lake? The locals say that Lake Atitlan is alive. There have been rumors of mer-people and living spirits there. When the lake is angry it is not safe to travel on it. The winds come up and the water looks as if it is boiling in a matter of seconds. The lanchas, or boats, get tossed about rapidly and everyone has to hold on tight. The most popular to travel from village to village is by boat. This is the fastest form of travel...

The Metal Guitarist That Discovered Water On Mars There is no doubt that Lujendra “Luju” Ojha played a pivotal role in finding water on Mars, but what was his life like prior to the discovery? Turns out, before he was a successful scientist— he was a death-metal guitarist. Ojha devised a new technique to analyze photos from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and wound up finding evidence of water mixing with salts. “The discovery of RSL (recurring slope lineae), or the flowing salt water observed on Mars, was kind of like my undergraduate thesis when I was at the University of Arizona,” Ojha explained....

Water on Mars–Where Do We Go From Here? Today’s exciting NASA press briefing confirmed what we suspected: Mars has water flows, at least intermittently. Where water flows, there is a good possibility of life, but what exactly do these conditions signify? “Our quest on Mars has been to ‘follow the water,’ in our search for life in the universe, and now we have convincing science that validates what we’ve long suspected,” said John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “This is a significant development, as it appears to confirm that water — albeit briny —...

Present-Day Running Water on Mars Confirmed As the European Planetary Science Congress 2015 (EPSC) prepares to start in Nantes, France, today, it quietly carries news that NASA may shout tomorrow at the Mars press briefing: present-day water flow has been confirmed on Mars! An abstract from the conference proceedings by Lujendra Ojha et al confirms spectral evidence for hydrated salts–briny, salty water–in four different locations on Mars. This work has been ongoing, and has been documented throughout its study by NASA. The dark, seasonal streaks, frequently growing on the warmer slopes of Martian craters, were long thought to possibly indicate water...

NASA Announcement on Mars Mystery Upcoming Press Briefing NASA has scheduled a press briefing for Monday, 28 September 2015, to detail a “major science finding” about Mars. Is it confirmation of water on the planet? Microbial life? Or something more unexpected, perhaps concerning the spectacularly odd rock formations Mars claims? There has been much speculation on the nature of the finding, with everyone scrambling for clues from discussions of recent findings. Inverse agrees that the composition of the press briefing contingent may give a clue: it includes Dr. Alfred McEwen, the principal investigator of HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment), and...

Northern California Reservoir Vanishes Overnight The $3.5 million project to save Folsom Lake sits on the horizon while a Northern California reservoir runs dry overnight, killing thousands of fish and leaving residents baffled. Formally known as Mountain Meadows reservoir, or Walker Lake, the reservoir was a popular fishing hole just west of Susanville. The rights to the site are currently owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Company who use the reservoir for hydroelectric power. PG&E claims to be just as surprised as everyone else. “It’s the situation we worked hard to avoid but the reality is we’re in a very serious drought, there’s also concerns for the...

Florida Man #0 – The Mysterious Origin Issue – Take a Journey of Discovery to Attempt to Find Out Why Florida Man Possesses his Strange Powers If you’re reading internet news like this article, you’re bound to already know about the Florida Man phenomenon. For years, Florida man has kept bystanders entranced with his super-human ability to do the weirdest things you can imagine—and even better than that, get caught doing it. But there has been little explanation offered for why Florida has so much strange stuff going on. Yes, there was the Salon post from 2 years ago and...

Cocktail Recipe: Lightning, Wind, Water and 800,000 gallons of Kentucky Bourbon The Weather Channel has just released a video of an event captured on camera in 2003. Twelve years ago, a lake in Kentucky produced a spectacular phenomenon as nature’s rapid response to an accident caused a lightning strike at the nearby Jim Beam manufacturing facility. The chain reaction started shortly after the strike when runoff from the from the blaze accumulated in nearby lakes. The fiery bourbon, attributing a key ingredient to this cocktail, alongside a small EF0 tornado, spawned an extremely rare event known as a Firenado. Watch: Firefighters were able to...

In the event of a zombie apocalypse, it’s imperative that you have a plan. If you’re influenced by the movies, then you might be inclined to take your chances and head for the nearest pub or shopping mall in order to outwit a growing horde of bloodthirsty zombies. Your average shopping mall is equipped with all […]

Nobody has ever put a lander on the far side of the Moon before, but China is well on its way to being the first. Over the weekend, the country launched a craft called Queqiao – a satellite that will orbit the Moon to relay messages from the yet-to-be-launched lander, Chang’e-4. The Moon is tidally […]

It only lasted for a savage, fleeting instant, but for 8 intense seconds last week an eagle, a fox, and a rabbit flew across the sky as one. In an incredibly rare scene, photographers have captured the moment a bald eagle swooped down upon a young red fox clutching a rabbit, and in its whirlwind […]

There is something special and awe-inspiring about watching new land form. This is what is now happening in Hawai’i as its Kīlauea volcano erupts. Lava is reaching the ocean and building land while producing spectacular plumes of steam. These eruptions are hugely important for the creation of new land. But they are also dangerous. Where […]

Calling all citizen scientists! A project looking for those dying, exploding stars called supernovae out in deep space is also searching for volunteers to help in the work, and you can get real science credit for it along the way – even if you’ve never done a second of star-gazing before. Astronomers from the Australian National […]

When Jean-Lou Justine received the first photograph of a giant worm with a head like a shovel, the biologist was astounded. Hammerhead flatworms, which grow to a foot or more in length, do not belong in European vegetable gardens. “We do not have that in France,” said Justine, a professor at the National Museum of […]

Astronauts go through many physiological changes during their time in spaceflight, including lower muscle mass and slower muscle development. Similar symptoms can occur in the muscles of people on Earth’s surface, too. In fact, it could affect everyone to some extent later in life. “Age-related skeletal muscle disorders, such as sarcopenia, are becoming a greater […]

Exposure to early life trauma can lead to poor physical and mental health in some individuals, which can be passed on to their children. Studies in mice show that at least some of the effects of stress can be transmitted to offspring via environmentally-induced changes in sperm miRNA levels. A new epigenetics study raises the […]

Most renderings and reconstructions of pterodactyls and other extinct flying reptiles show a flight pose much like that of bats, which fly with their hind limbs splayed wide apart. But a new method for inferring how ancient animals might have moved their joints suggests that pterosaurs probably couldn’t strike that pose. “Most of the work […]

Corals growing in high-latitude reefs in Western Australia can regulate their internal chemistry to promote growth under cooler temperatures, according to new research at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at The University of Western Australia. The study, published today in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, suggests that ocean warming may […]